In Loving Memory
by Harmony Slytherin
Summary: Lily Evans, James Potter, and all of their wacky friends are in their sixth year at Hogwarts. What havoc can they reak? You probably don't even want to know...
1. Default Chapter

In Loving Memory  
  
By: Princess Harmony Zalaras Slytherin I  
  
Disclaimer: I never put these things up, because I figure y'all KNOW this stuff belongs to JKR, master author of the universe. But, just in case you forgot, it is only in my little dream world that I am JKR and all this stuff belongs to her, excepting various characters along the way you don't recognize.  
  
To flamers: I am not afraid.  
  
Dedicated to: Silverphoenixwings, Star*dust, and Nany, who's personalities I've kidnapped. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!   
  
  
Prologue:  
A Long, Long Time Ago In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...  
  
"Amberlon, Indigo!"  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!" Dumbledore applauded as the first of the first years was sorted. He could see the backs of the others, some shifting their weight, and some twitching nervously.  
  
"Black, Sirius!"  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!" *Really* Dumbledore thought. *Minerva should sound more welcoming* He scanned the row as a few more students were called. His eyes landed on two people in particular. One had flaming red hair, and was hard to miss. The other looked strangely familiar...  
  
"Evans, Lily!" Minerva said, and the red haired girl skipped forward. The Sorting Hat sat on her head for nearly two minutes before proclaiming her a Gryffindor. *Interesting* Dumbledore thought to himself. *She doesn't look like the Gryffindor type, more like a Ravenclaw.* Dumbledore tried to pick out Remus Lupin, the werewolf, from the crowd. He was worried about the poor boy. As he looked, several more students were called.  
  
"Himalia, Miranda!" Suddenly Dumbledore heard laughing, and he could see Minerva scowling. He stood up to look over the giggling first years to see a blond young lady cartwheeling over to the stool. Dumbledore chuckled, this was shaping to be an interesting class. He and the rest of the hall waited to discover what house Miss Himalia would be in.   
  
And waited. And waited. After a full two minutes the hall started whispering. Was she even magical? *She might even break my record* Dumbledore thought, remembering his turn on the stool decades ago. It took the hat nearly six minutes to place him.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat screamed, finally. Dumbledore nodded in agreement, and the hall applauded. Minerva shuddered.   
  
"Jenkins, Crystal!" A short, dark haired girl sat down and placed that hat on her head, which shouted Ravenclaw a few seconds later.  
  
"Jenkins, Julia!" *Twins* Dumbledore noted with interest. He always liked to see whether siblings were stuck together in the same house. However, the Jenkins twins wouldn't have this problem, because Julia became a Gryffindor. Dumbledore went back to pondering the familiar boy, while the werewolf boy, Remus Lupin, became a Gryffindor. 'Pettigrew, Peter' joined him, but not before 'Malfoy, Lucius' became a Slytherin. Dumbledore recognized the name 'Malfoy' and was not impressed by the boy's swaggering attitude.  
  
"Potter, James!" Minerva said, and familiar boy walked forward. It was the walk that did it. Dumbledore knew where he recognized James Potter from.  
  
And was not at all surprised when he got placed into the house of his ancestor, Godric.  
  
"Romandle, Rhiannon!" Minerva said, bringing Dumbledore out of his trance, as a pretty girl flounced forward. She was definitely this class's future knockout.  
  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
  
"Rubidub, Samuel!"  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
  
"Safire, Esmerelda!"   
  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
  
"Snape, Severus!"  
  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
  
"Songs, Melony!"  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
  
"Topingside, Topanga!"  
  
"Please," Topanga Topingside grinned at the professor. "Call me Kitty." Dumbledore laughed as he saw Minerva cross her fingers, but to no avail.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!" Again, she shuddered, and Dumbledore simply shook his head.  
  
"Umbralion, Derek!"  
  
"RAVENCLAW!  
  
"Vanderkinsmen, Veronica!"  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
"W-" Minerva stopped and stared at the paper. Dumbledore repressed more laughter; he had never known Minerva to falter.  
  
"Weeping, Willow!" She said, but it sounded more like a question. What a name! No wonder Minerva was confused.  
  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
  
"Yttrium, Zachery  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!" And with that, Minerva rolled up her scroll. Dumbledore stood up.  
  
"Welcome all to a new year at Hogwarts!" He said happily, smiling. "I trust you are all hungry enough to eat a hippogriff, so let me just say a few words: Lithium, Berylium, and Boron." He sat down again as food appeared on the tables. As he helped himself to mashed potatoes and roast beef, he studied the first years.  
  
Dumbledore had learned from experience that there was usually one couple out of every class who, in later life, tied the knot. Recently (that is, that last 20 years or so) Dumbledore played a game on the first night, and he guessed which two it would be. His eyes led him to the Gryffindor table, at which the first years were bonding quickly.  
  
*Sirius Black* Dumbledore decided. He was just so eye catching that Dumbledore knew the girls would be after him. He squinted down, and saw that Mr. Black was already talking to the young red haired young lady.  
  
Sirius Black and Lily Evans. Definitely. 


	2. Honey-Baby-Dearie-Poo

Chapter One:  
Honey Baby Dearie Poo  
  
"Yo, my homey G!"  
  
"Huh?" James Potter said, turning to see his best friend walking toward him, decked out completely in leather, and pulling off what appeared to be...gloves? James decided to put that in the back of his mind for a moment.  
  
"Wuzzup, my DAWG!" Sirius said, making bizarre motions with his hands. James raised a dark eyebrow.  
  
"You have been in America far too long, Sirius. YOU'RE the dog, remember?" James said. Sirius rolled his eyes.  
  
"It's an EXPRESSION!" He said. James picked up a trace of an American accent through the British. This was not good. The best course of action would be to divert Sirius's attention. Which wouldn't be too difficult because, in most cases, Sirius had the attention span of a stapler.  
  
"Listen up, Padfoot, I have a plan." James said, lowering his voice so that it wouldn't echo off the stone walls of the deserted platform.  
  
"Really, Master James?" Sirius said, grinning.  
  
"Now, the way I look at it the later it takes us to get to school the better-"  
  
"DUH!" Sirius interrupted.  
  
"WOULD YOU QUIT SPEAKING LIKE A BLOODY AMERICAN!" James screamed so loudly that a group of American tourists on the other side of the magical barrier separating the two from the Muggle world became quit offended indeed.  
  
"Sorry," Sirius replied, not sounding sorry at all. James rolled his eyes again.  
  
"As I was saying before I was so RUDELY interrupted..." James said, looking pointedly at Padfoot before continuing. "The best way to delay school is to delay the train."  
  
"Brilliant," Sirius breathed. James grinned and reached into his bag. This was, of course, no ordinary bag. It was bottomless. You couldn't stuffed an elephant inside and had room for more. From within it James pulled out several jars of honey.  
  
"Hold on a sec, does this require magic?" Sirius asked, remembering the paragraph C of whatchamacallit.  
  
"Of course," James replied, handing Sirius a couple of the jars.  
  
"Won't the Ministry....?"  
  
"Nope, they watch the our HOUSES, and magic here could be anybody.  
  
"Brilliant. Absolutely wonderful." Sirius replied, kneeling down and spreading the honey up and down the rails. When they were done, James cleaned off the sticky goo, and turned the honey the color of the rails.  
  
And, working hard to keep a straight face, Sirius and James exited the platform.   
  
"So, where'd you stash you Nimbus?" Sirius asked casually. James had a Nimbus 1000, the newest prototype.   
  
"Back here," James said, motioning to a clump of bushes. "And your Thunder?" He said, referring to Sirius's broom. It was exactly what Sirius thought he would say.  
  
"I didn't bring my broom," Sirius said, grinning. James stopped short.  
  
"WHAT?" He said. "How did you..." But the words died on his lips as they went around a hedge to the parking lot of a motel next door. Parked there, seeming to shout its glory, was a gleaming motorcycle.  
  
"Wow." It all James could say as he stood gaping at the dream of every sixteen year old boy, wizard and Muggle alike. Sirius grinned so wide that it should've been fined as James went forward and examined it.  
  
"This is...wow. Sirius, how the hell did you pay for this?" James asked, not taking his eyes off the bike.  
  
"I've been saving up for America, you know that."  
  
"You spent all you money on a motorcycle?" James asked sarcastically.  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Didn't you do anything productive in America?" James asked, struggling not to laugh.  
  
"Hardly." Sirius replied, grinning. His parents had never gone on holiday, something James, who went on holiday every year, felt slightly guilty about. James just laughed.  
  
"See ya tomorrow, Sirius." He said, and walked over to his broom.  
  
* * * * * *   
  
The next day Sirius and James met at 10:00, right after the train arrived. They waited around, until a whole giggling group of Slytherin girls arrived, 15 minutes later. They split up, taking two separate compartments, one empty one in the middle.  
  
"I have a plan, Padfoot..."  
  
  
Lily entered Platform 9 3/4 giggling, Julia Jenkins grinning next to her.  
  
"That was the worst joke in the history of the universe." Lily said, gasping for breath.  
  
"I know," Julia replied, a few giggles escaping her as well.  
  
"What's the 'worst joke in the history of the universe'?" Mindy said from behind us, coming through the barrier.  
  
"Why did-" But Julia was cut off as Willow and Crystal came running through the barrier.  
  
"Just tell me on the train," Saturn said, rolling her eyes. The chose a compartment and stuffed themselves into it. They went out to say goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins, who had let Willow, Lily, and Saturn stay at their house with Crystal and Julia over the last two weeks.  
  
They still had fifteen minutes before they were supposed to leave when the five friends formed a circle in their compartment. Lily looked around, looking over her friend's smiling faces.  
  
There were Julia Christine and Crystal Janine Jenkins, twin sisters, but thankfully NOT identical. Crystal had short chocolate colored hair and eyes to match. She was the shortest of the group, and the quietest. But if you pissed her off you'd better hide, she only LOOKED innocent. She had a good head on her shoulders, and she was a lot sharper than she let on.  
  
Julia, on the other hand, was hardly ever quiet. She was almost always happy and hyper, and she was full of good advice. Much more optimistic than her the-glass-is-half-empty-thank-you twin. Her hair was auburn, wavy, and longer than Crystal's, falling just past her shoulders. But their eyes betrayed their twin status, that same chocolate brown.  
  
Then there was Miranda, known to the world as Mindy. Mindy, with her long blonde hair and green eyes, looked very pretty when she was happy, and downright evil when she was pissed. Of course, the madder she got, the more blue her eyes became. Her parents were a little obsessed with astronomy: her name was Miranda Pandora Himalia. Apparently, because 'Himalia' was a moon of Jupiter, they insisted to use the names 'Miranda' (moon of Uranus) and 'Pandora' (moon of Saturn). Mindy was hyper most of the time, but she went through stages where she was just....depressed. However, at the moment she was bouncing off the walls.  
  
Willow. Willow was shy and reserved at first, but once you got to know her she became extraordinarily hyper. Her name was...er...intersesting. 'Willow Isis Weeping'. Lily began to grin. When McGonagall had read 'Weeping, Willow' at her sorting, she had done a double take. Willow had curly black hair and piercing blue eyes that looked similar to Dumbledore's.  
  
"Okay, the JOKE!" Mindy said, a gleam in her eye.  
  
"Why did Mozart-" Julia began.  
  
"What are YOU doing here?" Lily interrupted. They all looked up at the door, where a tall, handsome sixth year with flashing black eyes and a devilish smile was standing in the doorway. He swaggered inside, shortly followed by another black haired boy with smoky eyes, a lighter haired, more seriously looking one, and a mousey haired pudgyish boy. They sat down.  
  
"Hello?" Said Willow. "This compartment is TAKEN!" At this point Crystal put a hand over her friend's mouth.  
  
"You can stay here if you want to." Crystal said, blushing slightly in the direction of the first black haired boy. Julia rolled her eyes.  
  
"Sirius, get OUT!" She yelled at him.   
  
"I think, as of right now, this is the best compartment on the entire train."  
  
"And why would that be?" Mindy demanded. Then she saw that too-familiar gleam in his eyes. She grinned. "One of your ever famous pranks, Sirius?"  
  
"Of course, madame." Sirius said, bowing. "It was James's idea however."  
  
The second black haired boy stood and bowed as well. He was grinning a grin that Lily didn't particularly like the looks of.   
  
"What did you do?" She asked uneasily. James grinned.  
  
"Hey!" Crystal said suddenly, checking her watch. "It's 11:06!"   
  
"Yeah....?" Mindy, Willow, and Julia replied in unison. But Lily gasped.  
  
"The train was supposed to leave at 11:00!" Lily screeched. Sirius and James were grinning wildly. Remus was shaking his head, and Peter was looking as if he had no clue what was going on.  
  
"WHAT?!" Mindy screamed.  
  
"Has the train ever been late before?" Willow asked anxiously, hurrying to a window.  
  
"Not that I know of." Julia replied, joining her at the window.  
  
"Wait a second..." Lily said, frowning. "Did you do something to this train, Sirius Black?" Sirius grinned.  
  
"But, of course m'lady. With help from Master James as well." He said, bowing. Lily rolled her eyes.  
  
"Honey, Baby, Dearie-Poo," Mindy said quietly. "What did you do?" Her eyes were alight.  
  
"We can't tell you, it would be no fun at all." James said. Mindy stuck out her tongue and giggled. Lily noticed that when she did, Remus blushed.  
  
"Omigod, here comes that conductor lady. What was her name?" Julia said.  
  
"Eglentine Longbottom." Willow replied immediately.  
  
"Isn't that Frank Longbottom's mum?" Crystal said, giggling.  
  
"One and the same." Willow said, tossing her black curls and grinning.  
  
"Hey, my ol' Ravenclaw buddies. Deserting me for a bunch of Gryffindors?" A new voice added was added to the already overcrowded compartment. Everyone spun around to see one of Hogwarts' prettiest sixth years. Her auburn hair fell around her face perfectly, like charmed silk, and sparkled gold in the light. Her eyes were a deep brown, and were lit up with a mischievous golden twinkle as they landed on Willow and Crystal, her fellow Ravenclaws.  
  
"Rhiannon!" Willow squealed, running over to Rhiannon Romandle and throwing her arms around her.  
  
"No touchy." She said, pushing Willow away, but smiling nonetheless.  
  
"So, if it isn't my favorite pranksters." She said walking over to them. "What did you do to the train?"  
  
"Just-"  
  
"She's trying to CURSE the train!" Crystal screeched, having snatched the window. They all crowded around it and, indeed, saw Mrs. Longbottom trying desperately to undo the damage done to the train with her wand.  
  
"Okay, you two." Lily said, standing up. "You march out there and tell poor Mrs. Longbottom what you've done to-"  
  
"Shhhhh." James said, holding up a hand to silence her.  
  
"What?" Rhiannon demanded.   
  
"In five...four...three...two...one-"  
  
A scream of terror erupted from the compartment on their left.  
  
A/N uh...okay then. Just wanted to say that, for future reference, I am Mindy, Snape's niece (formally known as Nany) is Julia, SPW is Rhiannon, and Star*dust is Crystal. Sorry, just had to get that out of my system. Next chapter, it's time to figure out that annoying scream, and off to Hogwarts, where James and Sirius will probably get into trouble.... 


	3. DETENTION POTTER!!!!!!

A/N Hi everybody! Okay, just a quickie, I have to apologize to Sierra Charm. I forgot to mention her. She is the personality of Willow Weeping. Have fun, ur gonna love this ch! Please review!  
  
  
Chapter Two  
DETENION POTTER!  
  
A scream of terror erupted from the compartment on their left, shortly followed by another scream from their right. James and Sirius howled with laughter. The girls, however scurried to the doors to see what was going on. All except for Rhiannon, who put her hands on her hips and demanded an explanation. Sirius and James, however, were laughing so hard that they were unable to respond to her.  
  
"Oh my God," Julia whispered, and Mindy screamed.   
  
"What?" The other girls demanded, running over to their window view of the compartment to their left. As soon as Crystal looked in she yelped in compulsion and scampered back to the right side of the compartment. Willow glanced in, and her eyes bulged as she backed away from the door. Mindy stalked up to Sirius, (who was, for the record, still laughing his head off) looking fiery.  
  
"SIRIUS WHATEVER-YOUR-MIDDLE-NAME-IS BLACK!" She screamed, sending James into an even harder fit of laughter. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO THOSE POOR GIRLS?!"  
  
"Aw, Mindy, that's Esmeralda Safire's compartment, I thought you'd be proud." Sirius replied in a fake pout. Mindy and Sirius were notorious for pretending to be mad at each other when they really weren't. Kitty, who wasn't there at the moment, called it flirting. Crystal called it stupid.  
  
"You didn't let me finish." Mindy snapped, her eyes glinting mischievously. "What did you do to those poor girls WITHOUT ME?!" And with that, the two of them began laughing so hard that they were leaning on each other for support.  
  
Silently, Willow felt sorry for 'those poor girls', even if they were in Slytherin and her Gryffindor friends' worst enemies. It just wasn't fair of James and Sirius to set all those tarantulas out in their compartments!  
  
However, it seemed that Willow was alone. Everyone else in the compartment was howling with laughter. Thinking about it, Willow decided they deserved it, what with that snake thing they pulled last year.  
  
From her seat at the window, Lily giggled.  
  
"Even Mrs. Longbottom can hear them screaming!" She said.  
  
They all hurried over to one of the two windows (which still left them VERY crowded!) and watched, trying not to laugh TOO hard, as Eglentine Longbottom abandoned the train tracks and hurried into the compartment on their left to deal with the troublesome spiders. They could hear her yelling over all the commotion the girls were causing.  
  
"Settle down, girls, settle down!" She was yelling. "No need for all this fuss! It's just a few spiders!" The crowd in Lily's compartment dissolved into giggles.  
  
"I must tip my hat off to you this time, Sirius!" Mindy said, hardly able to breathe. But while she was expecting a saucy, egotistical, Sirius-ish response, she was answered with nothing but the previous giggles of her classmates. She looked around, but the only boy to be seen was Remus. "Sirius? James? Peter?" She said. Her friends finally started noticing that the boys were gone, too.  
  
"Hey, where'd they go?" Willow demanded of Remus, who rolled his eyes.  
  
"The snuck off to get into some kind of trouble. I opted out of it." He replied, sounding disapproving of his friends' antics, but his twitching mouth gave away his humored opinion of the escapade. *Miranda Pandora Himalia!* Mindy scolded herself. *Why are you looking at Remus Lupin's mouth?!* Mindy decided to put that little mental argument off for a few hours.  
  
"How'd they sneak out without us knowing it?" Mindy said, to get herself out of that particular frame of mind.   
  
"That is for me to know and you not to find out." He replied, winking, not even attempting to conceal his glee at being in on something none of the girls were in on.  
  
Rhiannon gave a large, dramatic sigh.  
  
"What's wrong, Rhi?" Crystal asked, not bothering to say all of the name.  
  
"The Slytherin girls have gotten over themselves and Frank's mum is back to cursing the train.  
  
The Jenkins twins, Willow, and Mindy rushed over to the window to watch Mrs. Longbottom, but Lily didn't move. She was looking at Rhiannon curiously.  
  
"You and Frank Longbottom are on a first name basis?" She said quizzically. Longbottom was in seventh year and in Gryffindor, while Rhiannon was a sixth year Ravenclaw. Rhiannon simply shrugged.  
  
"We went out when I was in..." She squinted as if trying to remember something very distant and unclear. "Fourth year? Third? I can't remember..." Lily just gaped. Longbottom was very popular. Of course, Lily had just really gotten to know Rhiannon in the last year.  
  
"His mum's a sweetie." She continued, ignoring Lily's astonishment. "I met her at a party over Christmas break whatever year it was that I was dating Frank. He's with Anna Merchild now, did you know? And looking serious. I'm happy for them, they make such a cute couple, and-" But her comments were cut short by a jolt of the train and a scream from Julia.  
  
"Are we FINALLY leaving?" Rhiannon asked, exasperated.  
  
"I hope not!" Willow screeched.  
  
"Why not?" Lily said, fairly surprised.  
  
"Because the conductor isn't on the train!" She screeched.  
  
"WHAT?!" Lily and Rhiannon screamed in unison, pressing themselves up to the nearest window with Willow and Crystal, while Julia and Mindy just stared in astonishment through the window next to them.  
  
It was true. The train was now rounding the corner, and Mrs. Longbottom was screaming after it, throwing curses. The girls looked around at each other in wide-eyed astonishment.  
  
"All right there's only one thing we can do!" Julia said, standing up, looking determined. Everyone looked up in anticipation. She said, in a strong, clear voice, "Tell my joke!"   
  
Everyone started laughing so hard and so loud that Mindy, for one, couldn't breath. Crystal and Lily couldn't see through tears of mirth, and Rhiannon, Willow, and Remus, who had been crowding the same window, were on all fours, holding each other for support. Julia looked around in confusion.  
  
"What?" She said. At this everyone laughed, if possible, even harder. "I don't get it!" She said desperately. She waited impatiently for her friends to calm down.   
  
"Okay." She said, eagerly. "Why did Mozart get rid of his chickens?" She looked around, pretending to be waiting for an answer. "Because they kept saying 'bach bach bach!" With that, Julia collapsed into a fit of laughter, falling into the seat behind her. The others immediately stopped giggling and stared as if they thought she was mad.  
  
"What?" Julia said, realizing she was the only one who was laughing. "Don't you get it?" They continued to stare, saying nothing. "Okay...I don't get it." She said, and the others roared with laughter.  
  
  
  
  
  
The train finally started slowing, and the seven waited impatiently to see who had been conducting the train all this time, for it certainly hadn't left on it's own. They were not at all surprised to see Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick (head of Ravenclaw house) Sprout (head of Hufflepuff house) and Dunkel (head of Slytherin house) waiting on the platform as they piled out of the train.  
  
As others piled into carriages or, in the case of the first years, followed Hagrid down the path, Remus, Crystal, Julia, Mindy, Rhiannon, Lily, and Willow waited next to the professors out of curiosity, along with about fifteen others.   
  
The door opened, and James Potter stepped out of the conductor's compartment of the train. And with that, McGonagall spoke the first words of the new term.  
  
"DETENTION POTTER!" This exclamation was shortly followed by "DETENTION BLACK" and "DETENTION PETTIGEW".  
  
Remus, needless to say, was laughing almost as hard as he had on the train. As the four piled into one of the remaining compartments, the girls could hear Peter saying, rather defensively, "It's not THAT funny, Remus!"  
  
The girls were laughing too, though they didn't find quite as funny as Remus did. They split up, Willow, Lily, Rhiannon, and Maria Candle, another Ravenclaw, in one compartment, and Julia, Mindy, Lily, and Kitty Topingside in the other.  
  
"Go figure," Lily said, rolling her eyes. "The first person this year to get a detention is James."   
  
"You're surprised?" Kitty said. She too, was laughing.  
  
"Hey!" Mindy said, as if suddenly realizing that Kitty was there. "Where WERE you? Why weren't you with us on the train. You missed Julia's joke!" She and Lily began to laugh while Julia looked more confused than ever.  
  
"I was with Zachery." She said, blushing. Julia raised her eyebrows.   
  
"Zachery Yttrium?" She said. Mindy and Lily began to laugh even harder.  
  
"Oh my GOD!" Lily said between gasps for breath. "You're dating ZACHERY YTTRIUM!" And she couldn't say anything else because she could hardly breath.  
  
"Isn't he in...Hufflepuff?" Mindy said, giggling like a schoolgirl. (Wait, she is a schoolgirl....nevermind)  
  
"Shut UP, you guys!" Kitty said, blushing and looking away. This made the other three laugh harder than ever.  
  
"WILLOW! CRYSTAL! RHI!" Mindy, Julia, and Lily were all yelling for their Ravenclaw friends.  
  
"Oh please, don't." Kitty begged, but the others weren't listening.  
  
"What?" Crystal said, shortly echoed by the other two as they fought their way over to the four Gryffindors.   
  
"You'll never guess what!" Julia said, and before and of the others could say anything, she plowed on. "Kitty is dating Zachery Yttrium! Isn't that the funnies thing!" She began to laugh again.  
  
"Is that true?" Willow said, trying to keep a straight face. Blushing worse than ever, Kitty nodded. The Ravenclaws burst into laughter.   
  
"It's NOT funny!" She shouted.  
  
"What's not funny, Kit?" A deeper voice said. Kitty's six friends quickly quieted themselves as best they could (which meant biting their lips to keep from giggling, and still a few escaped) as Zachery himself came up behind Kitty and slipped an arm around her waist. A loud giggle escaped Mindy, but she quieted it quickly.  
  
"Nothing, Zack." She replied, slipping out of his reach and taking his hand. They climbed the steps together and entered the hall. The others burst out laughing even harder than they had before.  
  
"What's so funny?" Sirius said as he the other three Marauders approached the giggling schoolgirls.  
  
"Kitty is dating Zachery Yttrium!" Julia gasped.  
  
"She is, is she?" Sirius said with a raised eyebrow. He and Kitty had gone out last year for a few weeks, before he dumped her. There were no hard feelings, of course. Kitty teased him for weeks about being so privileged as to have dated the 'heartthrob' of their year. It was a big joke between them.  
  
"Hey girls, save us a seat." James said, winking at the four Gryffindor girls. Lily rolled her eyes.  
  
"What ARE you four doing now?" She demanded. They laughed, and disappeared into the crowd without saying anything.   
  
"Well, see ya later!" Crystal said. The Gryffindors hugged their Ravenclaw friends, then hurried to the Great Hall to try and find eight seats together. They finally did.  
  
The first years filed in, and Professor McGonagall unraveled her scroll.  
  
"Angelhair, Grace!"  
  
"RAVENCLAW!" And thus the sorting had begun. Lily and her friends clapped politely along with the rest.  
  
"Where ARE those boys?" Mindy hissed as 'Emberstone, Evan' joined the Gryffindor table.  
  
"How should I know?" Lily replied.   
  
"No doubt trying to break the record for the most detentions on the first night of school." Kitty said, rolling her eyes as McGonagall called for 'Furlong, Charissa'.  
  
"Don't they already hold that record?" Julia replied. They all tried desperately (and failed miserably) not to laugh. Poor Charissa Furlong, now of Hufflepuff, looked rather insulted.  
  
The girls managed to restrain themselves for the rest of the Sorting. Dumbledore stood, smiling.  
  
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts." He said warmly. "I assume you are all very hungry, so let me just say this; Traguna Maquidi Traquarum Satis Dee!" The golden platters were suddenly heaped over with food. The girls began to fill their plates. Just then, the Marauders finally appeared, grinning like mad, and sat down to start feasting.  
  
"Where were you?" Julia demanded. Sirius grinned.  
  
"You'll find out soon enough."  
  
"Got your food?" James asked. "Okay, watch the teachers."  
  
It started with Dumbledore, who began to chuckle. Then Professors McGonagall and Flitwick (who were seated at his right and left) began to giggle. It swept across the high table like a contagious disease, and within a minute all of the staff, including Hagrid and Filch, were rolling, shaking and crying with uncontrollable laughter.  
  
By now the students were laughing to, at their teachers. Well, most of them were. Frank Longbottom (head boy) and Wanda Charlston (head girl) were trying not to laugh and figure out what was going on. Eventually, though, they too gave in. But none of the students were laughing as loud as the Marauders.  
  
"Oh my God!" Kitty said between gasps for breath. "What did you DO?"   
  
"We snuck laughing potion into their drinks from the kitchens!" James said, now crying with laughter.  
  
"We didn't think it was gonna be this good!" Remus added, doubled over and struggling to breathe around his laughter.   
  
"How long is this gonna last?" Lily asked nervously, after the student's laughter had begun to die down, but the teachers were laughing louder than ever.  
  
"When someone figures out what's wrong and distributes the antipotion." Sirius replied simply. This sent the girls into gales of giggles.  
  
"You had better eat up." Julia said, pushing the food towards them. "They'll know you did it and drag you off when they're cured." 


End file.
